Destroying Idols - Revisioning the Meaning of `God' (Hardcover, Unabridged edition)

Judaism and Christianity have different meanings for the concept of `God.' These religions rely on different transmitted texts. Different words - in the biblical Hebrew, biblical Greek, biblical Latin, biblical English - contribute to confusion in meaning. For example, what does `elohim' mean? Is there a difference between `Yah' and `Yahweh'? This book examines this confusion in meaning in the biblical texts. This confusion is at the heart of the divorce of Judaism and Christianity. Despite this, we can have a new way of understanding the concept "God", by which one may re-examine and support a minority point of view in rabbinic tradition, known as the "two powers in heaven" doctrine. Given this revision, there is ample reason for enlightened renewal of a "messianic" interpretation of both Jewish and Christian faiths. This book, therefore, speaks to theologians, philosophers of religion with interests in Jewish and Christian religious traditions, students of philosophy, and informed believers.